Meet Jeri Mae James | Actress, Model and Online Creator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jeri Mae James and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jeri Mae, how has your background shaped the person you are today?
I was born and raised in a small town in California, and now Los Angeles is the city I call home.
Much of who I am today is thanks to my frequent exposure to classic films, plays and television as a kid.
When other little kids my age were watching cartoons, I was watching “The Andy Griffith Show, or I Love Lucy.” My family was very sentimental and a bit nostalgic when it came to the classics, we have that in common. My love for the classics is the touchstone for all my creative endeavors.

Either through osmosis or through observation, I inherited my fathers “can do” streak. I grew up learning that if you wanted something you didn’t have, there was always a chance you could just do it/ make it yourself. Sometimes that’s the only way to what you want.
Creativity and self reliance have played a major part in getting me to where I am now.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I always wanted to be some kind of artist when I grew up.
Of course the road to artistic stardom or even satisfaction can be a tricky one to navigate.
I started the way most people do, in the theater!
I had little parts in local theater during the summers between school grades.
I practically froze with fear the first time I had to audition! Auditioning still makes me terribly nervous.
I love the theater, I love the smell of it. I love the seats and the curtains and the magic of it all.
One year, I was auditioning in front of all the other hopefuls and after my scene the director stood up and made an example out of me,
she said
“Did you all see that!? The mannerisms she gave the character, that is how you embody a part!”
I was surely blushing from ear to ear on the outside but beaming with joy on the inside.
The year before I had might as well have been scenery. That summer I got a leading part!
I went on the same way every year and eventually graduated from a college acting conservatory. This is not the typical college experience but I loved the intensity and focus on the craft.

I moved to LA on my own after college. I was young, naive and in a city that seemed to move a hundred miles an hour all the time.
This Hollywood was not the same one from the classic old films I loved to watch, this one felt more chaotic.
No one was looking to scout new talent like back in the studio system days, there were a million other beautiful girls my age at all the same castings, and instead of parts I ended up with a bunch of parking tickets.
I was dropped by my agents and I had to move on from my management so I started looking for modeling work as a way to earn extra money.
At one point I was sleeping on floors and couches trying to save enough to rent an apartment.

I started padding my modeling portfolio with photos I took of myself and those seemed to be the most popular shots.
I never have had any formal training or high tech equipment, just a love of creating and that “can do” dna.
I also had references that a lot of my contemporaries didn’t and so my work stood out.
My concepts and creations came from that place of love for the classics that was embedded in me as a little girl.

I posted the photos I would take and some little acting scenes here and there on social media and to my delight they starting to gain me a bit of a following. I realized I had the opportunity to create something special, after all, if the world is a stage, social media is practically your own television station, magazine, newspaper etc. It is a place to meet your audience and get to know them, and a place to try out your material with a very critical focus group ha!

Sometime’s I get blue knowing there is a slim change I’ll get to set foot on those marvelous sets from the 1930s- 1960s, under those burning hot lights with the magnificent and expensive film in those divine technicolor cameras, speaking words written by Wilder and Brackett or Tennessee Williams ( who died on my birthday some years before I was born.)
Don’t even get me started on the costumes!
I dream of and am working towards making films myself, that pay homage to the beauty I find in these films of the past.
Wouldn’t it be divine to have films that look and sound like that again? Thats my real desire.

Thankfully my online platforms help showcase my point of view and art style and I am happy to say more and more I am meeting likeminded artists and business people who have also had their lives touched by the classics and Old Hollywood.
I am always working to better myself as an artist and I have high hopes that this is all just the beginning.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
The thing I love most about living in LA is unfortunately becoming rarer and rarer via demolition.
The historic restaurants, theaters, homes and so on.

You would have to stay at any one of the original Old Hollywood hotels, Chateau Marmont, The Beverly Hills Hotel, The Sunset Tower, Hotel Bel Air to name a few. Take your pick!

I love museums so I would suggest stopping by The Hollywood (Max Factor) Museum, The Hollywood Heritage Museum and/or swinging by The Academy Museum or the Getty.
And for a change of scenery we can’t forget a stop by at the Graystone mansion! It is beautiful in the springtime and so quiet.

For a bite to eat, some of my favorite places are, The Formosa Cafe, Crossroads Kitchen, Musso and Franks, The Dresden, Gracias Madre, The Polo Lounge, gee I’m getting hungry just thinking about it.

We would have to see a double feature at maybe the New Beverly Theater or any of the theaters in LA showing the actual film reels. It’s amazing seeing film the way it was intended to be seen.
Taking someone who has never seen a theater from the golden era, into the art deco theaters that still remain in Hollywood is such a treat. So maybe stop by Grauman’s or the Pantages.

We could go to the Hollywood Forever and Forest Lawn cemeteries, to pay our respects to the stars.

This city has so much history, sometimes I just drive around looking for landmarks and pieces of the past. Finding homes used in classic movies, seeing those of the stars and directors of the past, checking out the remains of midcentury hangouts. I have a ball!

If you want to learn more about the city of Hollywood and its iconic history I recommend checking out my friend (Barkev- @merchmotel) He has amazing videos and walking tours for those who want an in person look at this historic city!
On hot summer nights, you can’t go wrong with a trip in the convertible up to the top of Mullholland Dr. and watching the city light up and sparkle like Elizabeth Taylor’s jewelry box.
There is still so much magic in Hollywoodland.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
A man who passed away long before we could ever meet. In his life he was a glamorous drag queen and collector of vintage memorabilia. His mother, a woman my father knew from work, had recognized my love and longing for glamour and Old Hollywood, presented me with some of his possession’s. A few boxes filled with costumes, jewelry, and collectibles with their certificates of authenticity neatly organized.
As a little girl who had been very sheltered, this box of glamour and treasures that he had so lovingly cared for, was like a gift from my own fairy godmother!
He gave me such a gift, or his mother did I suppose, unbeknownst to either of them, they helped give me a sense of belonging.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jeri_mae_james_/?hl=en

Twitter: https://x.com/jeri_mae_james_?lang=en

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQT1EuOD6pAyyBx8rCfplRg

Other: Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jerimaejames?lang=en

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/user/3vmwxq9xesu81cp07v8strz6k/playlists